[IUG] Limit Search on External Search Box

[Bonnie Fullerton <fullerton at plsinfo dot org>]

One of our PLS librarians at Skyline College has the following problem:

I want a form on our library homepage that is a very limited version of the
Expanded Search page (the "X" page) that allows us to limit searches
(location limit--the "b" code) to our library ("zcy" is the code for
Skyline) in a single search.  The code below seems like it should work, but
when the location limit is clearly set to Skyline the search results are
still for ALL PLS libraries.  If you immediately Modify the search, the
Skyline limit is shown in the location box (and if you submit that search,
you indeed get the results you should have gotten in the first place.)

The "X" page is what seems to be the root of the problem, in that it just
doesn't seem willing to allow the code for the location-based limit to take
effect. When I do a search "live", it is clearly the "b" code (and the code
associated with the location, "zcy" for Skyline) that controls the location
limit (easily demonstrated by changing the url in the address bar so it says
"zcm", which then changes the limit to College of San Mateo.) But when you
encode this into a form - such as:


<form name="search" action="http://catalog.plsinfo.org/search/";
method="get">
<div align="right"> <span class="style1"><font face="Verdana, Arial,
Helvetica, sans-serif"
size="-1">PLS Book Catalog Search</font></span><br>
<select name="searchtype">
<option value="X">Keyword</option>
<option value="t">Title</option>
<option value="a">Author</option>
<option value="d">Subject</option>
<option value="c">Call Number</option>
</select>
<input maxlength="75" name="searcharg" size="10">
<select name="b">
<option value="zcy">Search Skyline Library</option>
<option value="zcm">Search College of San Mateo Library</option>
<option value="">Search all PLS libraries</option>
</select>
<input type=hidden
           value=R name=SORT>
<input name=submit type="submit" align="bottom" value="GO!">
<!-- <input class=vcenter type=image height=19 width=21
           src="images/go.jpg" value=GO! name=submit3 alt="go">
</div>
</form>

I've tried lots of variations on this - and I can get it to work with a
limit to a scope, such as the scope for the Community Colleges - but getting
the location limit to work doesn't seem possible. Has anyone on the IUG
listserv had any success with this type of form?  Even confirming that it
just doesn't work would be a help; then we could start bugging III to
implement it :-)

Thanks for any help you can offer.


Bonnie Fullerton, Webmaster
2471 Flores Street
San Mateo, CA  94403-2273
P:  650.571.6799 X3064
E:  fullerton at plsinfo dot org
Your Library.  Always Open.








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